They chose the direction due to the lack of foreground stars in our own galaxy; in that way they were able to observe out into the inter-galactic medium with minimal interference and view up to 13.2 billion light years away in time and space. Really they were looking into the large-scale structure of the universe which resembles something like this:
AFAIK the german draft placed soldiers in to the army, not the nazi party. you had to apply to be a nazi. (please correct me if i'm wrong)
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